


The Greatest

by BlueDaisy



Series: Credence [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Flashbacks, Gen, Papyrus goes through mountain climbing therapy, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, papyrus has problems
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-18
Updated: 2019-06-20
Packaged: 2019-11-23 14:01:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 19,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18152777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueDaisy/pseuds/BlueDaisy
Summary: Papyrus has been feeling under the weather lately.So he climbs a mountain!(Or a celeste and undertale crossover nobody asked for.)





	1. Prolouge

**Author's Note:**

> I really recommend listening to piano collection of Celeste = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZHAVwWGUZU&list=PLczA8pMWxlsF1D00-GoHXtcmSJE9CxWEl&index=2&t=0s  
> Warning= Celeste spoilers(?)

He got out of the car and put on his backpack.

He didn’t know why he was doing this, but... he had to, needed to do this.

There was no turning back now. He even took some days off for this.

The mountain wasn’t going to eat him, and he was pretty sure there was no barriers with monsters behind in this mountain.

Plus he went all that trouble to come here from Ebott, he wasn’t going to turn back just because he was feeling a bit under the weather.

So he took a deep breath he didn’t need and started to head towards the Celeste Mountain.

 

“Hello Ms. Old human! May I ask if this is the mountain trail?” How curious, there was an elder human living in the middle of nowhere.

“You’re on the right path Mr. Monster.”

“Thank you!” Papyrus started to walk before adding, “by the way looks like your ridge has collapsed.”

“Oh, that ridge had collapsed two weeks ago and someone almost died.” She answered with a laugh.

“Wowie! Then it’s a good thing the great Papyrus has fixed your ridge!” he said proudly.

The old lady looked at him for a moment before breaking into a laughing fit. “Haha! You’re a weird one.” Papyrus flinched. “Thank you, anyway. I kept forgetting to call someone to fix it.”

“Nyehehe! It was a joints effort.” He said turning to leave as the old lady laughed again.

“But I must warn you before you go.” He stopped. “Celeste Mountain is a strange place. You might face challenges you aren’t ready for yet.”

“Don’t worry Ms. Old lady! The great Papyrus is also great at facing difficult challenges!”

“Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” She said as he started walk toward the bridge that looked like it had collapsed couple of times.

He readjusted his bag and started to walk through the bridge.

Then there was a crack sound and when Papyrus looked behind he realized that the bridge was really collapsing so he darted forward and started to run as the bridge started to collapse behind him.

Just as he was about to reach the end, the bridges end collapsed and when he jumped he realized he wasn’t going to make it. Right when he was about to fall he used his blue magic and threw himself to the other end.

Wowie! He hadn’t started to climb yet but this journey of his was already filled with action.

(He noted to fix this bridge too when he came back.)

He took a step forward with determination.

He could do this.


	2. First Steps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everybody loves deadly spikes and strawberries right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really recommend you to listen to this piano collection of Celeste's OST = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU_sGByf6vc

The city was metallic and icy with their abandoned buildings… also some spiky puzzles and more ice. Papyrus wasn’t sure why a construction site needed so many deadly spikes and those metallic engines with traffic lights that started to move when he jumped on them, or why a building would need puzzles.

But Papyrus was impressed.

The puzzles were fun and didn’t beat around the bush rather than just being there to waste his time _like_ _some puzzles in specific place_ (*cough*hotland*cough*) and the other optional puzzles had some reward just like he would prepare his puzzles.

And another thing Papyrus wondered about was, why was this city covered in strawberries?

Rewards of the puzzles were strawberries, so he just guessed it was these puzzles jam.

 

Just as he collected another strawberry and was going back to his original route he saw a woman taking a selfie in front of a crashed plane, and he decided to greet her.

“Hello Ms. Human!” he greeted her enthusiastically. He wasn’t expecting to see another humans or monsters in this mountain after the old lady.

The woman looked happy more than frightened to see him which made him more cheerful.

“Hello fellow monster! I wasn’t expecting to see anyone else in this lonely city.”

“Nyehehe! Me neither, I’m the great Papyrus what is your name?” he offered his hand to the brown haired woman.

“I’m Alex.” She said while shaking his hand.

“Are you going to camp here or are you going for the summit too?”

“Well I don’t plan to go _that far_ but I’m interested in seeing the mirror temple.”

They started to walk together while they were talking.

“So you’re here for a historic sightseeing.”

“Yup! And I don’t get to travel a lot so this is kind of a nice vacation, I guess?”

“Oh me too!” Papyrus said cheerfully. He was glad he wasn’t the only who didn’t take a lot of breaks.

He finds comfort in working or doing chores, they take his mind off of things. Normally he would never go on a vacation but… he just… felt the need to do this?

~~The fact that he doesn’t even know why he’s climbing a goddamn mountain makes him feel childish and ashamed.~~

“Hmm looks like we got a problem.” Alex said while distracting him from his wandering thoughts.

When he looked up he realized, the next place they were going to jump was too high for Alex.

“Well… I know a solution for this problem but…” He said nervously.

“But?” Alex said as she crossed her arms.

“You might not like it.”

“Considering the only way I can proceed this adventure is your solution because I have no idea how I could get there… go ahead!”

“Okay then,” he said and he picked Alex up.

Alex looked surprised. “I didn’t know a _skeleton_ could carry a fully grown adult?”

“Nyehehe! Even though I may not look like it I am a very strong and a brutal guy.” He said trying to sound cheerful as always. “Now you may want to close your eyes because I am going to jump over there.”

“Oh, okay go ahead- Wait what?!-“

Alex gave a surprised yelp before tightly closing her eyes as he jumped over to the other side.

He slowly put her down.

Maybe this wasn’t a good idea… he probably scared her and now she was going to think he was a-

“Dude…” Alex took a deep breath, Papyrus braced himself for what was about to come. “ _That was so cool!!_ ”

“I’m sorry Alex, I didn’t mea- wait what?” Papyrus looked at Alex to confirm what he just heard.

“Why are you apologizing? That was so cool. You can do that all the time?” Alex looked at him with bright eyes waiting for an answer.

“Well of course! That’s how I passed most of the puzzles here.”

“Dude! You’re awesome!” Alex said enthusiastically.

Papyrus felt a sudden rush of warmth in his cheeks, to hide his sudden embarrassment he faked a cough and took a proud position. Alex was the first adult who thought about him genuinely as ‘cool’.

“Nyehehe! It was nothing for the great Papyrus!”

They smiled at each other before starting to walk again.

 

“So Alex, where do you come from?” Papyrus asked when he felt the tinge of warmth disappearing from his cheeks.

“Well, my inquisitive compatriot, I doth hail from the mystical, exotic kingdom off…” Papyrus held his breath in anticipation. “…Seattle. Pfft, hahaha… I’ve always wanted to say that, but its cooler when he says it I guess.”

Papyrus sighed and chuckled. “Wowie you too are far away from home!”

“Yeah, but it’s worth it I guess. My brother always tells me to take a break but I really wanted to see this place after he told me about it, maybe I should’ve been satisfied with the pictures he took and the stories he told before I died from stupidity.” She shrugged. “I guess I dug my own grave.”

“I don’t think so.” Papyrus said. “I mean there is a lot of difference between listening to someone talking about their own adventure or you going to an adventure on your own and discover new things or meet new people or learn a lot of new things or just have fun, maybe you’ll even fall down from a cliff and meet new species!”

“Hah! I’m not that interested in going on adventures but my brother would’ve loved something like that to happen to him.”

“You have a brother?” Papyrus asked even though he knew she mentioned him quite much.

“Yup! He loves photography, and takes great pictures, actually he’s the one who came here in the first place. From the photographs, this place looked so beautiful and I can see why now.”  The way she talked about her brother left a nostalgic feeling in Papyrus. “Do you have a brother too?”

“Yes, but my brother isn’t as active as your brother. But I think he would’ve liked to see the stars from here.” Papyrus felt a sudden bitter feeling, Sans wasn’t too _fond_ of him coming here…

Papyrus cleared his throat to distract himself from the thought. “So Alex why did you want to see the mirror temple?”

“I guess it’s because of the pictures Theo (my brother by the way) took and he said there was something _mystic_ about it? I heard the mirror temple is an old historic ruin and-” And Alex took one step and with a crack the ice below her feet broke off, but just as she was about to fall down Papyrus catched her with his blue magic, holding her _orange_ soul and bringing her beside him.

“W-wow...” She said as he released her soul.

“Are you okay?” Papyrus said as he checked her. He wouldn’t have been surprised if Alex was scared of his magic.

“Yeah... just didn’t expect that to happen...” she took a deep breath and gave him a shaky smile. “Icy what you did there, thanks.”

Papyrus smiled in relief. “As long as you’re okay.”

 

* * *

 

Alex took out her phone and looked at something and said, “Hey I think we’re almost at the memorial.”

And just like Alex said, when they reached upwards there was a memorial, It read:

 

_\- Celeste Mountain –_

_This memorial is dedicated to those who perished on the climb_

 

“Yup, looks like we’re here. Let’s take a break.” Alex said as she sat down to light a fire. “And where do you think you’re going?” she continued as she realized Papyrus kept walking.

“Well, I don’t plan on resting so I’m going ahead.”

“Dude... are you a tank or what?” Alex got up and started to pull him towards the fire she just lit. “But no... I’m not letting you continue, everyone with two legs would be exhausted by now. So just take a nap before moving forward okay? You look like you need it.” And she made him sit by the fire and sat down beside him.

“Wowie, Alex. I appreciate your concern but I-“

“Yeah, yeah you could’ve convinced me when you didn’t had those... bags? ... Under your eyes.” Alex said yawning.

“Nyehehe… these aren’t bags, Alex. This happens when you... regularly don’t get eight hours of sleep.” He said nervously.

“Hmm, you have a sleeping problem?”

“Not really? It’s just that I’m not lazy like _someone_.”

Alex looked at him like she saw through his lie, but she didn’t say anything and just nodded.

Papyrus must be really out of his game if a stranger is seeing right through him.

“Well then just sit here and rest for a moment before moving on okay? The summit isn’t going anywhere.” Alex said as she rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

“As well as I appreciate your concerns. But I must remind you that I am a skeleton and not a pillow.”

“Hey, now what are friends for if they don’t even let you use them as a cuddly pillow?” she answered smiling.

Papyrus smiled back when she implied they were friends.

“I didn’t know skeletons would be this comfortable to lean on though?” she continued her sentence with a confused tone.

“It isn’t because of me being a skeleton Alex, it’s because I’m a being with magic.”

“Oh, are you casting a spell so I’ll have an eternal slumber?”

“Don’t be ridiculous Alex, first of all I would need a beautiful princess for that.” At that he got jabbed in the ribs.

Papyrus watches the snow falling from the sky as his new companion fell asleep. For a moment he thinks about building a snowman of his awesome self and leaving the woman to find his snowman when she woke up but he decides against it. She was just worried about him and he ~~didn’t want to be alone right now~~ liked her company. He could sit here for a few hours and wait for her, he was used to it.

 

_(It reminded him of the first months they moved in Snowdin. He would just lay in the bed for hours, until it was a reasonable time to get up because he couldn’t sleep. Watching the ceiling, watching the snowflakes outside his window._

_He did that because he didn’t want to worry Sans. He already had enough on his plate._

_He stopped doing that after two months when he realized Sans had stopped caring about his sleeping pattern and his hobbies and anything about Papyrus…)_

 

Monsters can’t actually live without sleeping, it has really bad effects on their health if monsters don’t sleep for months, that’s why Papyrus crashes down once in a two weeks.

But now sitting beside a human in front of a fire, it was too comfortable.

It was so comfortable that his eyes starts to close.

Before Papyrus closes his eyes he wonders when was the last time someone asked how he was.


	3. Ressurections

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really recommend listening to this piano collection of celeste! = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ia799l1tozQ&list=PLczA8pMWxlsF1D00-GoHXtcmSJE9CxWEl&index=4&t=0s

One second he was closing his eyes and two seconds later he opened them back. Of course the great Papyrus wasn’t defeated by his natural body! Even though the last time he slept was three weeks ago.

And he just realized Alex was gone. How rude, he even decided to not jape her!

He tried to push down the feeling of disappointment and worry. The woman _did_ almost fall after all…

He got up and looked around, time must have past because the night sky looked more dark and beautiful with stars, and why couldn’t he read the memorial? He could swear he was able to read it before he fell asleep.

As he started to walk through the old site he started to notice these strange glassy things? He couldn’t do anything with them so he moved on.

How absurd and mystical this old site was! There were some more spikes and rocks that collapsed when he jumped on them… and more strawberries, how could he forget them?

After wasting time on trying to figure out how to get those yellow seeds inside those glasses he moved on to the next room annoyed, to realize the room only had a mirror.

What a conveniently placed mirror! He should definitely look at his handsome face.

As he moved in front of the mirror he realized something was off… this reflection wasn’t his.

When he moved to look closer the (orange?) reflection blurred and the mirror shattered as something (blue?) ran off.

Well… ~~(That was going to give him nightmares.)~~ He definitely was not going to question this whatsoever!

Look the glassy things he tried to figure out was glowing now! He should definitely fling himself towards it.

Look now he was swimming through it, wowie! He just swam through a glassy watery thing to reach the room above him!

He certainly will not question anything, it’s just this mountains jam! Speaking of jam now that these glassy things worked when the mirror was shattered by the reflection he will definitely not question and go along with, he could get all the strawberries he saw earlier!

 

* * *

 

The night sky shined with stars like magic.

Speaking of magic this celeste mountain really was mystic just like Alex said because he felt magic from these puzzles in the old site and if he reaches the mirror temple he’s sure now that he was going to see something _mystic_ there.

Maybe monsters used to live here before they were trapped behind the barrier? Does this mean he is just solving ancient puzzles? Wowie, best vacation ever!

“Papyrus, buddy. Slow down.” Someone said with familiar voice behind him.

Papyrus flinched in surprise… was it Alex? No, this familiar voice didn’t belong to Alex.

“Who… said that?” he replied nervously as he slowly turned around.

“I’m just a worried friend, Paps.”

When Papyrus looked behind him his eyes widened in shock.

“… Are you Undyne? What are you doing here, you were supposed to be on your honeymoon?”

“Hmm… close but not quite.” Undyne? Answered.

What does she mean by that? Does this mean she isn’t Undyne? But if she isn’t Undyne then… who is she?

Maybe this person is the one who got out of the mirror? But… how?

“Look Papyrus I’m only here because I’m worried. I know you need a hobby but this is too much.”

The words sounded familiar. “Why?” he asked quietly.

“You aren’t ready.” Undyne said.

The familiarity of the words left a similar pain in Papyrus every time he heard the same thing over and over.

 

_(“You aren’t ready pap.” Undyne says with an apologetic expression._

_Does she think he believes her obvious lies? Papyrus tried to prove Undyne that he wasn’t the person she thought he was… but honestly Papyrus found it convenient that monsters thought he was ‘innocent’ and ‘naive’ including his own brother._

_It was nice… it made him feel like he was a nice monster.)_

 

Undyne could turn a blind eye when she believed in something too much, Undyne must think he must be too soft to miss the part where he beat up a child to 1 hp, Papyrus thought bitterly.

“Undyne as much as I appreciate your concern… but this is something I have to do.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean why?”

“Why do you want to climb this mountain?”

“I…” he didn’t have the answer to that… maybe that was the exact reason he was climbing this mountain.

“You don’t even know? Typical.” Papyrus flinched. “You didn’t even know why you wanted to join the guard.”

 

_(“Why do you want to join to the royal guard?”_

_He just wanted to make snowdin safer. If the town was safe maybe Sans would stop being so paranoid and stop taking naps through the day to raise his max hp._

_He couldn’t fix his mistakes, but at least he could make the only thing that was left in his life feel better.)_

 

“Go home Papyrus.”

“No.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m not going to go home, Undyne.” Papyrus said calmly. “I’ll climb this mountain.”

“I’m saying this for your own sake! You aren’t ready for something like this.”

“And what gives you the right to make that choice for me?” Papyrus had started to lose his patience.

“W-what?” Undyne looks shocked.

“I’m a perfectly capable adult who can make my own decisions and I _decided_ to climb this mountain. And you have no say in this.” Undyne could be the captain of the royal guard but she wasn’t being fair to him, she didn’t even bother to test him when he met all the _acquirements_ and what was her excuse? His morality. (It’s funny she didn’t suspect him listening in when she talked with the human.) Everyone knew the dogs would do anything for pets, and they would be in danger too if a human fell, so why were they more expandable than him? ~~(Because he was her friend.)~~

“I’m doing this for your sake!” Undyne gritted her teeth. “Forget it. I’ll _drag_ you home if I have to.” She said quietly.

They both looked at each other in silence.

Papyrus turned around and bolted. He felt a presence behind him and he saw a glimpse of spear being thrown at him.

What the heck Undyne?! Papyrus thought in panic as he moved through the watery things and jumped through rocks and opening the doors with the keys scattered around which is another questionable dynamic in these puzzles but Papyrus had no time to think about that.

He remembers being chased by Undyne as training before, they were both almost equal in physical strength… but Papyrus had one advantage which was bending the laws of physics.

That’s why when he jumped on an ice and it started falling he jumped quickly and landed on the other side and in response Undyne threw a rock at him which is _rude_.

He runs through a series of narrow places filled with falling ices, spikes, and _strawberries_ … seriously who left these strawberries here?!

When he finally lands on his feet and starts running, he quickly realizes there were no more puzzles and Undyne wasn’t chasing him anymore.

Papyrus slowed down and looked around, he was outside again and Undyne didn’t seemed to catch up with him which means she probably gave up?

Wait… this is Undyne he’s talking about… there was probably something else that got her attention or something.

And how is Undyne here anyway?! She was supposed to be at the other side of the earth with her wife! What is she doing here chasing him to drag him back home?!

Not to mention he didn’t even told her about his sudden ‘vacation’.

Papyrus felt his skull pound in questions and his soul was beating with adrenaline and a gathering feeling of dread from thinking about Undyne dragging him back because he was being childish and unreasonable…

This was getting ridiculous, he didn’t need to be getting scolded just because he wanted to climb a mountain! People who thought about him incapable of doing something as simple like this leaves a really bitter feeling in him which makes his souls clench and make him want to curl in on himself for no reason.

Being treated like a child… leaves him with a knot in his throat and shaky and with a fake smile and an act he got really good at over the years.

And he is angry for no reason… again. Maybe that’s why he’s climbing this damned mountain.

He… needed to calm down.

Thankfully there were more strawberries! He really should make a spaghetti with a strawberry sauce! The taste would leave Undyne speechless in their next session.

 

_(He remembers their first cooking session._

_The first time they tried to cook, it was actually more humane. Undyne even tried to cook from a recipe, and they followed the instructions. He doesn’t remember much but… he guesses something went wrong when they were stirring? And then Undyne tried to stir it harder, when the mix didn’t look appealing she kept stirring which made the mix look more and more like a mushed dirt and at the end they had to put out the fire that had started on the counter at some point._

_The spaghetti’s taste was… interesting...._

_Yeah, he was never eating that again._

_Papyrus knew how to cook but he wasn’t cooking anymore, so he could play along with Undyne, and stabbing and punching vegetables was more stress relieving than he thought, and it left a pleasant smug feeling when he saw people’s faces sour and try not to break his heart with compliments which made him want to serve them another plate, like he didn’t know the food they just ate tasted like death._

_It was a little revenge he guessed.)_

 

Suddenly he heard… a ringing?

He started to walk faster and ahead of him there was a payphone.

He slowly picked up the receiver.

“Hello?” he asked slowly. He should’ve probably ignored the phone, he wasn’t in the mood for acting.

“Papyrus?” wait… this was Sans’s voice? But why is he calling him from a payphone? “… Are you calling from a payphone?”

“Huh, but… you called me?” Papyrus said with a confused voice then he shook his head, this wasn’t what was important right now.

“What are you talking about?”

“It doesn’t matter. Sans, Undyne is here and she is chasing me. How is she here and why is she trying to bring me back home?”

“Bro, Undyne is in Japan.” ‘I know that’ Papyrus thought bitterly. “Are you sure it’s her that you saw?”

“Of course it was her Sans! I’m not blind I’m telling you she chased me!”

“Okay… okay, calm down. Just tell me what happened.”

“I was climbing Celeste Mountain. I found an old mirror at the old site and the mirror shattered and something ran off of it, and then I saw Undyne and-“Papyrus paused. “… I’m dreaming, aren’t I?” he said with an exasperated tone.

Then he heard footsteps behind him… oh great, dreamdyne must have caught up to him.

He turned around and as Undyne got closer the blurrier she got, she got smaller… shorter and rounder… until it wasn’t Undyne anymore.

The person in front of him was Sans and he was holding a cell phone.

Sans gave him a little smile. “Of course you are dreaming Pap… It’s been months since I even bothered to call you and ask how you were, why would I start now?”

 

* * *

 

Papyrus jolted awake.

“Holy hell!” someone yelled beside him with a thud.

When he hazily looked over he saw Alex lying in the snow.

“Why are you lying in the snow Alex… you’ll catch a cold.” Papyrus said with a resigned voice.

“Oh I don’t know, maybe it’s because someone might’ve suddenly thrown me off while I was sleeping?” She said as she got up and she looked at him for a moment. “Umm… are you okay?”

“Oh,” Papyrus shook his head, he couldn’t drop the mask in front of others. “Of course I am! Why wouldn’t I be? I just got excited because I wanted to continue on!” he quickly got up.

Alex looked at him like she didn’t believe a single word he said. “Okay, let me just gather up and we’ll go on?”

Papyrus started to sweat. “Of course! I just need to make quick phone call I’ll see you at the payphone up ahead! Nyehehe!”

He quickly turned around and started walking without waiting for Alex’s response.

Stars were still shining beautifully, it must be around three or four then? They would reach the celestial resort in the morning then, he presumed.

The more he walked the more he was convinced everything was a nightmare, the puzzles and the glassy things to the mirror he saw was nowhere to be found the longer he walked.

He probably shouldn’t have left so fast… His new friend was probably suspicious now. Well… it didn’t matter, he would make it up to her with jokes and puns as they traveled to celestial resort anyway.

He needed to be alone right now.

His thoughts started to calm down as he kept walking, he even managed to find one more strawberry.

And he finally reached the payphone.

He slowly dialed the number and waited.

“Hello?” Sans’s voice sounded like he was awake for a long time. Did he even slept?

“It’s me, Sans… Did I wake you?” Papyrus asked hesitantly.

“Papyrus?” Sans sounds like he wasn’t expecting him to call him this soon after… _that_. By ‘that’ he meant they have fought. “… well, you know me, I’m a skeleton of _into-rest_.”

“That was terrible, Sans…”

“Yeah, I know.” He said with a tired voice. “Look, bro… I didn’t mean to push you away,” He already knew that… for months. “And I just want to say that I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry too Sans. It’s just gets so… _frustrating_ when I try to talk to you and you keep changing the subject or run away.”

“I just… didn’t know you felt that way.” ‘Or you didn’t see it.’ Papyrus thought bitterly.

“I know, but we need to talk when I come back.”

“Yeah, of course.”

They stayed silent for a moment.

“So… how is the Celeste Mountain?” Sans asked slowly. “If you’re alone and too cold you might become _ice-olated_.”

Papyrus sighed at the pun. “I’m not alone Sans I’ve met a really nice human and she has been keeping me company. And the mountain is really… _mystical_ , I’m excited to see what’s ahead, and there was so many strawberries lying around for some reason? I’ll definitely make a spaghetti with a strawberry sauce when I came back!”

“That’s… delightful.” Papyrus smiled at Sans’s reaction for his new recipe idea.

 


	4. Checking In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He feels Floweys stare. “Don’t lie Papyrus~… you’re not the only one who acts out of guilt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really recommend listening to Celeste's OST = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOzvP1I5tLU&list=PL1eFjFaZ9VkyDcVnvJyEC3P8tCFpZpRoU&index=7&t=0s

Sunrise is still something that leaves Papyrus standing in wonder in his place.

He could stand forever under the sun and watch the colors of orange and yellow blending as they cut through the night sky. The sun rises with determination as it gives no mind how dark the night is.

The sight fills him with _hope_.

He smiles when he hears a heavy breathing approach. “Calm down, Alex. I believe we have reached the celestial resort.”

“Thank god!” Alex yells. “I’m so tired…”

“It’s been four hours since we started climbing, why are you tired so soon?”

“How are you _not_ tired at all?!” Alex says with a baffled voice. “Man… I wish, I was made out of magic.”

“Nyehehe, don’t worry Alex, even though you may not be as great as I am. You are still great in your own way!”

Alex smiles at him. “You’re too cool, dude.” Then she glances at the path leading to the resort. “Weird… I remember my brother saying this resort was in ruins… But it looks like it’s in good shape?”

“Well, there is only one way to find out!” Papyrus said cheerfully as he kept walking through the path. The lack of strawberries is starting bother him. He didn’t need them but getting them was satisfying and he feels like he accomplished something.

He finally saw a door at the end of the path. He doesn’t know what Alex is talking about, the hotel looks like it’s in pretty good shape… almost like it was renovated.

When Papyrus reached the door, it didn’t open.

“Hmm? Is it closed I wonder?” he said thoughtfully. That would be bad, hotel was the only way for them to move forward.

“What?! That would suck.” Alex said in disdain and looked around.

That was indeed bad. He wonders if they can go around the hotel… but that would be really dangerous and a waste of time, but looks like they had no-

“Hey look!” Alex said pointing up. “Is that a key?”

Papyrus looked up and saw the shiny thing Alex was talking about on the roof. If they got the key they could open the hotel but…

“Alex! Wouldn’t that be breaking and entering?!”

“Is it really breaking and entering when the front doors key is on a roof?”

That… was true.

“Hey, I think there is a strawberry on the roof beside the key!” Alex said with an excited tone.

Papyrus quickly jumped on the roof. Fortunately for him Alex wasn’t lying about the strawberry.

“I still think this is cheating Alex!” He said as he jumped down and gave her the key.

“You break the laws of physics just to collect strawberries!”

He made a dramatic pose. “Oh no! My secret has been uncovered, what shall I do!”

Alex laughed as she opened the front door, but the door didn’t open normally… it simply, vanished through the air with a tint of _magic_.

They looked at it in wonder with different reasons for a moment before ignoring that ever happened and went inside.

Hotel’s reception looked quite nice and fancy, every furniture looked like it was new… but… Papyrus had a bad feeling about it.

He felt a distant feeling of _ancien_ t _magic_.

He looked around nervously and he saw the note on the reception: _Please ring for service._

Before he could warn her, Alex already rung the bell.

At first lights went off, and then a light a appeared as something came to life in the air and took a human form, he felt Alex cling to his arm in fear.

…

Oh… that… makes sense…

“Welcome! May I help you?” The _human_ ghost said.

 “(Is that a ghost?)” Alex whispered to him in shock. It’s funny that Alex freaked out when she saw a ghost but she was perfectly fine when she saw a literally walking skeleton.

“(… Yes.)” He… technically was. He remembers his father talking about human ghosts. The only way for a human ghost to exist was with a _curse_ , and humans were not using magic for a really, _really_ long time ago, so long enough for them to forget monsters and magic even existed.

“Oh my! It’s been a really long time since I saw a fellow monster!” The human ghost said excitedly. “Oh how rude of me, I didn’t even introduce myself.” He cleared his throat. “I am the concierge of this fine establishment, welcome to the celestial resort hotel, Mr. Oshiro at your service.”

Even though the man looked like he was in his thirties, he must be really old to remember monsters even exist.

He feels Alex let go of him. “Hi… I’m Alex, and this is Papyrus.” She offered him a gentle smile.

Papyrus was surprised at Alex being this accepting of monsters. Some humans… weren’t this nice when they met monsters.

…

But! That doesn’t mean the great Papyrus was going to give up on humanity! They just weren’t use to them yet! And Papyrus would do anything in his power to convince humans that monsters weren’t something they should be afraid of… or hate.

“-Do you serve food?” Alex’s voice brought him back from his thoughts.

“Ah yes, but unfortunately the service isn’t ready yet.” Mr. Oshiro answers politely.

“Dude, I don’t fucking care, just tell me you have a kitchen and supplies, I’ll make it myself at this rate even though it’s gonna taste like coal.”

And with the talk about food Papyrus just realized he hasn’t eaten anything for three days. He wasn’t starving himself, it’s just that… he had simply forgotten.

“Don’t worry Ms. Alex, we do have a kitchen you can use.”

“Great! Then let’s cook coal!”

“I think that isn’t needed, Alex.” Papyrus finally speaks. “After all the great Papyrus is also great at cooking.”

 

* * *

 

“So…” Alex says when he’s considering what kind of spaghetti he’s going to cook. “… Is he a ghost?”

“Yes, he is a _human_ ghost.” Papyrus replied simply. Hmm… should he make his _famous_ spaghetti or actually cook something decent for a change?

“What’s the difference?”

“Humans usually don’t become ghosts when they die.” Papyrus answered thoughtfully. “It can only happen with a _curse_.”

“Can humans even use magic and who would curse this man?”

“Humans did use magic… a really long time ago with different methods, but they lost that ability when they were separated from monsters.” How humans used and lost the ability to use magic was a really long and a boring story, so Papyrus cuts it short. “And Mr. Oshiro seems to have cursed himself and became a lost soul that way.”

When Papyrus finished preparing the ingredient, he turns around and faces Alex who was leaning against the counter.

“I think you were right Alex.” Papyrus says with a low voice. “This mountain is… magical.”

This would explain Mr. Oshiro becoming a ghost through his obsession with his hotel.

But that would also mean his dream was…

No.

It was just a dream.

“Hmm…” Alex looked troubled. “Should we… help him?”

Papyrus smiled at Alex’s worry. “We can’t help him. He needs to move on from this hotel to lift that curse… He needs to help _himself_.”

You can’t help people if they don’t want to be helped. Papyrus learned this the hard way. Smiling and offering them the help they weren’t going to accept was the only thing he could do useful for the person he wanted to help… Because no matter what he says… _He_ doesn’t listen… But it’s okay! Just because he was pushed away doesn’t mean he’s going to give up on him! He will always offer his unconditional support whenever he was ready. Until that time he Papyrus will try his best to make his life better.

“Yeah… that makes sense.” Papyrus looks at her with surprise. “What? You just can’t help everyone, Papyrus. If we tried to help every single person than we wouldn’t be able to take care of ourselves.” Her reply made Papyrus flinch with dread.

Luckily Alex didn’t notice and made a thoughtful noise. “Now that I think about it… Theo _did_ say that there was a creepy old weirdo who lives in a resort.” She frowned with annoyance. “But! He _could’ve_ told me about the ghosts and magic tricks this mountain had!”

Papyrus laughed with empathy. Typical older brothers… they don’t tell _anything_.

Papyrus looks at the ingredients as Alex continues on with her ramblings. Hmm… What should he do? Should he go out of habit and make something decent? Or should he keep up the man-child act and make something worse than charcoal? Decisions… decisions…

“-Hey, cool dude!” Alex waving her hand in front of him pulled him out his thoughts. “Do you hear me?”

Oh no, he was so engrossed in how to make spaghetti he had forgotten to listen to Alex! Oh no! He was the worst friend!!

“Why yes Alex!” he replied nervously. “What did you say?”

“I said you literally learned my life story through our climb here, yet I know nothing about you?”

Uh oh…

“So…” She smiled. “What kind of person are you, Papyrus?”

…

“I’m whatever kind of friend you want be, Alex.” He said with a weird feeling. “I can be your cooking pal who helps you burn your house down, throw boulders with you, the one who offers you his couch when you burn down your house or I can be the kind of friend you feel responsible of, the one you feel obligated to stop because he acts like an idiot…” He thinks about other stuff but does it really matter what kind of person she saw him as when she would forget about him after their journey is over? He was kind of forgettable in the end.

Forgettable, huh… Flowey called him forgettable once, maybe he was right. In the end he was just a stupid character who was there for shits and giggles, a background character no one would turn and think about again.

But then he remembers what Flowey said afterwards.

 

_("I didn't mean it like that, Papyrus." Flowey had said like he was insulted. "You would be one of those characters who has more to them then what is seen from the outside."_

_Papyrus had flinched, even though he knew Flowey couldn't have possibly know about anything about him from **before** because it was a really long time ago.)_

 

Alex snapped him out of his memory when she held his shoulders, she was standing tip-toe to reach him with a really serious look on her face.

Papyrus realizes distantly that he should’ve probably said something that would earn him a laugh, but he had made a really stupid mistake.

Just like everything in his life.

“I want to be friends with Papyrus.” Uhh… what? “I don’t want to be friends with someone who just wants to please me!”

Is that what Papyrus was doing? He just wanted people to be happy so he acted the way they wanted him to and it was convenient for him.

_~~(He feels Floweys stare. “Don’t lie Papyrus~… you’re not the only one who acts out of guilt.)~~ _

“Is it really okay?” People hated what was different from them was a fact.

Alex tightened her grip on his shoulder. “Yes it is! People being who they are and doing what they want is the simplest freedom they should have.” Oh right… He remembers her mentioning she was studying to be a civil rights lawyer. “I rather to be hated than act like someone I’m not just because people said so.”

They stayed silent for a moment.

Alex blinked in realization before blushing and stepping away. “At least that’s what I think.” She laughed nervously. “Sorry if I got a bit intense there.”

“No its okay.” Papyrus said as he smiled. She would be really good at her job.

“So what are you going to do?” Alex asked as she gestured the ingredients on the counter.

Papyrus stared at them for a moment.

“Well… It’s a simple spaghetti since Mr. Oshiro has little resources.” Papyrus said as he made his decision.

“It’s better than eating coal.” Alex reminded him.

“Nyehehe. Don’t worry Alex, the great Papyrus is actually great at cooking.”

It’s been a really long time since he cooked something decent.

But making this simple decision left Papyrus with a peaceful feeling like he was walking under the sun in a pleasant afternoon.

 

* * *

 

Unlike ghosts like Napstablook, Mr. Oshiro was able to eat normal food.

Alex literally squealing with joy when she tasted the dish caught their attention. “Thanks Papyrus.”

“No problem Alex.” Papyrus took a careful bite of the pasta and was relieved when it didn’t taste like death.

“Do you like cooking?”

Papyrus looked at her with surprise. “How did you guess?”

Alex smiled. “It’s just that… you looked like you really enjoyed cooking.”

“Nyeh…heh… is that so…” he mumbled.

He used to enjoy cooking and baking, but he had stopped because cooking brought memories of a warm peaceful moments about a family of three.

“How long were you managing this establishment, Mr. Oshiro?” Papyrus asked to distract himself from unwanted memories.

“Quite a while actually.” Mr. Oshiro answered. Papyrus was surprised when he realized Mr. Oshiro ate all the pasta in his plate when they had just started. “Business has been slow but I really love my work.”

“Hmm…” Alex looked uncertain. “I’ve been meaning to ask but… My brother climbed this mountain two weeks ago and he said this place was not really… in good shape.”

“Oh… that man.” Mr. Oshiro seems to remember who Alex was talking about. “Yes, I’m afraid he has come to this establishment at a really… unpleasant time.”

“Did something happened?” Alex asked carefully.

“I am ashamed to admit but yes.” Mr. Oshiro took a deep breath. “Business has been slow… and because of that I was a bit persistent on some of the customers. I kept letting my problems pile up and… this hotel became a real cluster because of that. Even though I didn’t like to admit, Ms. Madeline was right, this hotel really looked like a dump and I needed someone to hit me with a clue bat to realize I was being horrible…”

A really long silence passed like shadows as Mr. Oshiro seemed deep in thoughts.

“But I’m trying to repair this place, because I don’t want this hotel to end like this. This place gave me so much and means a lot to me, and I want people to see that… not whatever _that_ was.”

Papyrus can see that Mr. Oshiro was once in denial, but he was trying to better himself, and that was one of the most important things to move on.

“Oh yeah! I remember Madeline talking about you!”

“Really? I can only hope she wasn’t too upset by our interaction. I’d like to apologize and thank her for opening my eyes.”

“I’m pretty sure she would be happy to hear that you are trying to be better rather trying to ignore or run away from what’s happening around you and live with it.”

Papyrus flinched.

Alex continued talking. “I know it must be hard to deal with your problems, but forcing ourselves is sometimes better than letting them pile up to something more unbearable.”

That was… true. Wasn’t it? Papyrus always supported the idea of facing his fears and problems head on.

Then… what happened with him and Sans?

Why did Sans refused to open up and let his problems pile up while Papyrus did the same and lived with it?

They used to tell each other everything… What happened to them? Why did they drift so far apart?

He knew the exact reason.

 

* * *

 

“So… Papyrus what are you planning to do from now on?” Alex asked.

“I’m thinking about moving on now. What about you?” He wanted to keep moving as fast as he can even though he didn’t know why.

“I’ll sleep for a bit before continuing on.” She said as she yawned.

Oh… so this was a goodbye. This was probably for the better since Papyrus wasn’t like himself these days and needed to be alone or do something new.

He did that a lot back in the underground. He used to paint but the more better he got the easier it became and because of that his thought started wander to unwanted places, so he started doing puzzles… and a really _really_ long time ago he used to play the violin…

A really old reminiscence makes him glance at his glowed hand.

Well, let’s just say he can’t play it now… or ever.

“So… I guess I’ll see you at the old lady’s house?” She asked.

“What?” Alex never failed to surprise him.

“Do remember that lady who has a house?” Papyrus nodded. “Well she said I was welcome to come and have nice chat with her after my climb, so I guess you’re welcomed too.”

“Oh, yes.” Papyrus replied with a blush. “I’ll definitely come after I climb the summit.”

Alex smiled. “Okay then, I guess I’ll see you later!”

She followed Mr. Oshiro as he led her to the hotel room. Mr. Oshiro said there was a back exist he could use, but for that he needs to wait for Mr. Oshiro to come back as he looked around the newly repaired hotel.

Mr. Oshiro really did his best to repair this place in two weeks, the hotel really was big and everything was neatly placed and swept and dusted with care.

Papyrus looked out the window as he realized he was going to be climbing alone from now on. Weird… he had planned to climb alone thinking he needed some time off from people, but now that woman he climbed with left it filled his soul with loneliness for some reason.

As he kept looking around the hotel he saw a mirror at the end of a hall.

…

Was yesterday’s nightmare really a dream? After seeing the ghost he wasn’t too sure about it.

He cautiously walks to the mirror.

But before he could reach the end of the hall the mirror suddenly shattered as pieces scattered around like shooting stars as a short and round figure emerged through it.

“ _Sans_ ” Papyrus said like he was choking.

No… this wasn’t Sans. It was just a reflection.

“Heya.” Sans said lazily but there was something more sharp to his usual grin. “I see that you’re still continuing this childish game of yours.”

“What-“ No. there was no way this was Sans. Sans would _never_ talk like this.

“Are you sure about that?”

“What… do you mean?” Did the reflection just _knew_ what he _thought_?!

“Well, considering I’m a _part of you_. Doesn’t this mean I am somewhere inside?”

“But why would a _part of me_ would try to stop me?”

Sans shook his head. “I’m just trying to stop you from making more childish mistakes buddy.”

“This isn’t _childish_!”

“Really?” he raised a brow. “Running away to a mountain you saw on one add after fighting with me isn’t childish?”

“I- I’m not-“

“Flowey really was right. Guilt really can make a person do so many things.” Sans took one step closer to him but there was still a long distance between them. “But there is one thing, no matter how many times you climb to the summit or how many times you spare the kid to only get your head crushed, you’ll never redeem yourself. Because guess what? Dead won’t come back.”

Papyrus swallowed. “How… _how dare you_?!” He yelled with a scratchy noise as his voice wasn’t used to this kind of use. “I was there! I tried to do my best!” He walked up to Sans. “You’re not the only one who lost a father! Don’t you think I wasn’t sad?! I was! But you were falling apart and I had to pull myself together to take care of you, to get you to do _anything_! You… you…” He took a deep breath. “You don’t know anything about me… do you, brother?” he said with a quiet, tired voice.

“…” Sans turned around and disappeared.

He ran away; not seeing his pain, not bothering to do anything like always.

He hears rattling… oh… it was coming from him.

He took deep breaths and recomposed himself.

It’s okay… this was something he learned through his life.

He starts to go back to the reception to wait for Mr. Oshiro and sit down as he kept breathing with rhythm.

But it was no use.

The reminiscences he tried to hold back wouldn’t go away. Once he starts remembering, memories wouldn’t stop flooding his mind like leaking water from a broken pipe as they came back to him with their painful reminders.

But there was one thing that bothered him.

Papyrus tried to remember his father's face... he couldn't...

He kept trying but... nothing showed up in his mind. He remembered the warmth of his hands when he held his hand, or the gentleness in his movements when he tucked him in, and the voice he had when he scolded him for working too much, but not his face...

He was finally forgetting.

The man who raised him, the man who showed him unconditional love and care, the man... who he killed.


	5. Golden

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “From the way I see it, the mountain can’t bring out anything that isn’t already in you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really recommend listening to Celeste OST = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mr-SWzqNpM0&list=PL1eFjFaZ9VkyDcVnvJyEC3P8tCFpZpRoU&index=10&t=0s

Papyrus took a deep breath as he gazed at the sun rising to the sky as noon came close.

He walked along to come across a cloud.

He jumped on it without hesitation, and like anything magical within this mountain he bounced on the cloud and jumped across the other side.

He feels like he should feel excited about bouncing on clouds but he feels like he filled his excitement and joy quota a while back.

Look, now he came across a magical watery ball, and unlike the glassy one he can fling himself to anywhere he liked with this… green bubble.

Oh and he found more strawberries… Great.

When he came to the other side this time he found a… waterfall? It looked like a pond of some sort, and there was someone on the other side.

When he reaches the other side he came across the old lady he asked the mountain trail… How did she get here? He guesses it has something to do with the door she’s standing in front of.

The old lady waved at him shortly with a smile. “I see that you made it here in one piece. So did you meet Mr. Oshiro?”

“Ah, yes.” he took a deep breath. He needs to sound more joyful… but he just couldn’t, and who is he going to act for anyway? “He was really nice and the hotel looked brand new, probably because he was repairing it for two weeks.”

“True. That was the first time in a long time I saw him working this hard. Looks like he needed someone to snap him out of it.”

“Do you think he’ll let go of that hotel one day?”

“I think he will. Though I’m not sure if I’ll be able to see it.” She laughed. “But he took the first step and accepted his mistakes and problems and he’s trying to fix them. That’s what’s most important.”

They fall into silence as Papyrus watched the cherry blossoms falling to the water with sun shining down.

“Don’t you get lonely up here?” Papyrus asked suddenly.

“Hmm? Well I do have some friends so this old lady isn’t entirely lonely but I don’t get a lot of visitors, I don’t mind the solitude though. When I was young I could never imagine staying in one place for so long… but then I found this mountain.”

“What’s the deal with this mountain?” Papyrus asked with a hushed voice.

The old lady gave him a look with empathy. “The mountain shows you who you really are, whether you’re ready for it or not. It keeps me honest.”

“… Really?”

“From the way I see it, the mountain can’t bring out anything that isn’t already in you.”

“I’ve…” Papyrus decides that this old lady already knew what was going on. “Realized that when the reflection of my brother told me something my own brother doesn’t know.”

“Hmm… so, you’re seeing reflections of the people you know?” She gave him a little smile. “That’s interesting.”

Papyrus sighed as he understood that this is the only information the old lady was going to give him.

“So, are you ready to give up? I know a shortcut back to your car.” She offered.

Papyrus kept walking and stopped at the midway. “Thanks for the offer Ms. Human but I’m heading for the summit.”

Yes, it was true that Papyrus wasn’t expecting to come face to face with something like… _that_ , but now that this mountain has opened his broken pipe of memories he wouldn’t be able stop the water from flowing. He needs to finish what he started. There was no turning back after what happened.

“Heh, you remind of someone who came here.” Was she talking about this Madeline, Mr. Oshiro and Alex talked about? “She too was determined to face the challenges this mountain threw at her.” She sighed. “Since you’re so determined to keep moving I can only say good luck and mind the wind!” She started to laugh.

Papyrus kept walking without giving her an answer and just on cue a chilly wind started to blow when he passed a flag but he kept walking with determination or stubbornness, he didn’t know anymore.

The climb was harder as wind made his jumps more difficult and he had to time them. He’s being careful against the wind as he doesn’t want to die, but who knows… Maybe he already did.

Despite what Sans thinks, he was aware when there was some shifts in time and like all his friends, he too remembered when the reset happened and forgot like the others in mere minutes, but the difference between them and him was him being aware _why_ it happened.

And he knew there was a way to remember what happened in those shifts in time but chose not to. He doesn’t see the point in remembering them when they don’t even exist anymore.

Knowing how many times he was killed when he offered mercy wouldn’t change the fact that he would do it over and over again.

If his mercy worked even once… than all of his deaths are worth it.

Knowing how many times he failed shouldn’t change that and because of that he had two friends who was honest with him.

That’s why he never understood why Sans held onto those pens and papers like his life depended on it.

Maybe he didn’t want to forget anymore.

 

_(Sometimes... They would **forget**._

_Sometimes Papyrus would wake up and prepare breakfast for three people only to snap back to reality from the way Sans looked at him... heartbroken. Sans always looked nostalgic and sad whenever he saw Papyrus cooking... And Papyrus himself was unhappy whenever he cooked... So he stopped cooking._

_Sometimes he would sleep peacefully without the screams of his coworkers... of his **father**... telling him it was his **fault**..._

_Sometimes he wished he had forgotten about them too..._

_He wanted to have forgotten **him** too like all of the others, but he didn't want to forget... if that makes sense… Because his father was the reason he was the way he was, and he loved him with all his soul... But sometimes it was just... **too much**._

_Sometimes Sans wouldn't go to the basement... and Papyrus would know that he forgot. He would know Sans had forgotten when he smiled genuinely, when he talked to people, when he groaned when Papyrus made a pun... But then he would remember, when someone made a pun... when he saw children with their parents... When he saw **Papyrus**._

_And slowly Sans started to change: He started making puns even though he didn't like them, he started to take less care of himself... he stopped eating with Papyrus... he just... stopped..._

_...)_

…

He jumps through clouds and new green spikes and moving platforms as he fights against the wind with all his might and stubbornly collects all the strawberries he sees like they’re going to be any use to him.

He finally reaches a door that was similar to the one in that hotel. He collects the keys again without falling on any spikes.

After the door the wind seems to get more violent and he struggles to walk as he slowly makes his way to the rocks to climb. Curious… there was a strawberry he had to time his jumps with the wind to collect.

He doesn’t know why he’s collecting the strawberries…. Or keep climbing, but he keeps going anyway. Just like the life he’s living, he keeps going without knowing the reason but he knows he can’t give up yet… That there is tons of reasons to keep climbing.

So he keeps climbing with remembering other things in his life he had long since started to ignore.

 

_(No matter how many times Sans wastes on that machine it wasn't going to be fixed: they both knew that._

_He wanted to forget, he wanted to live on. But... Sans wanted to remember, Sans started to live in the past._

_Did Sans saw Papyrus when he looked at him or just the Papyrus on his mind? Because it became harder to tell as the days past and Sans started to treat him like he was a kid who doesn't know much._

_It's okay... he could handle a little difference in how Sans treated him. He would be fine as long as Sans was happy... He could play along._

_Sans's actions seems to have affected the town as well because the whole town started to treat him like he was just some sweet and innocent kid._

_It's okay... he could handle a little shatter in his pride. It's fine as long as people were happy._

_From the way town treated him, it was easy to take the role of an innocent and an idiot child who had nothing to worry about. The more time past the more he got used to acting like that, even though it left a tight feeling in his soul._

_It’s okay... He could handle a little feeling of being uncomfortable as long as it made people happy._

_Even Undyne thought of him as an 'innocent cinnamon roll'. Undyne must be thinking Papyrus was too 'pure' if she thinks he believed her lies even for a minute. It made him... sad... to be considered such a fool by the person he looked up to and saw as his best friend._

_Because even though she lied to him Papyrus knew Undyne enjoyed his company. It's okay that they didn't make anything but those horrible abominations of spaghetti... He had stopped cooking anyway._

_It was okay, it was fine._

_He was fine, he was okay._

_Then why did he felt magic gather around his eye sockets?_

_Its fine... he could handle holding back tears._

_Its fine... he could handle his throat tightening._

_He’s fine... He's happy..._

_Sans is alive and well... Even though he acts like papyrus can't do anything else than chores... Even though he kept saying Papyrus didn't had to work like Papyrus wasn't capable of it... even though **he** kept working with 1 hp._

_Papyrus stared at his reflection._

_He hadn't notice the tears..._

_He wipes them away quickly and takes a deep breath._

_He had a meeting with Undyne which would probably going to end up with a horrible mess that will make Papyrus cringe._

_Papyrus got up and smiled like nothing happened._

_Its fine... he could play along with this. It was nothing._

_He’s had worse.)_

 

When he finally reached upward the wind stopped.

Hmm… the place he reached had a lot of optional ways with collectable strawberries. He guesses he’ll test all of it.

But this place was so beautiful that Papyrus couldn’t help but stare in wonder. Cherry blossoms were falling to the ground like snowflakes from the pink trees.

It reminded him of the first time he saw Snowdin.

 

_(Something had **changed**._

_They both gained some sort of ability to bend the laws of Physics and Sans's hp was permanently damaged but they had survived. That was enough._

_People in New Home didn't recognize them, even their own neighbors..._

_Papyrus guesses it has something to do with their father 'falling' into that machine._

_So they decided to move out to a faraway place from here... away from their old home with memories of the father they had lost, away from the families of the coworkers they had living normally like they didn't lose anyone, away from that lab..._

_Sans said they should take the machine with them, along with the other documents they had._

_If it was up to Papyrus... he would destroy all of them. But he wasn't the one with the science knowledge and Sans seems to think that he can... get **them** back if he could repair the machine. _

_Papyrus didn't have the heart to tell Sans... that fixing the machine was impossible. Not to mention important parts were made by their father, and there was no way they could replicate his work. They weren't that skillful..._

_So Papyrus just watches..._

_He watches Sans lose hope... He watches Sans accept their loss... watches him slowly give up._

_It was painful and he didn't know how to comfort him._

_He wanted to tell Sans that they were lucky to be alive... to tell him that even though he lost everything **Papyru** s was still here._

_But he doesn't, because all of this was his fault... How could he dare to say anything when he caused all of this?_

_He had **one job**... And he blew it._

_But it's okay... They would get through it._

_Maybe Sans needed a distraction? Like a job?_

_Undyne was talking about needing more sentry... Maybe if he talked to her, she could do something?)_

Papyrus would regret yelling at Sans like in the hotel if he was really there.

He knows Sans tried to help him the best way he thought he could. By working and giving Papyrus the gold he needed to do the hobbies he kept getting tired of and changed.

He tried to tell Sans that he shouldn’t work all those jobs when he had one hp but whenever he tried to talk to him he was ignored or reassured that Sans kept _slacking off_ … Papyrus didn’t know Sans falling asleep on his jobs had something to do with him being exhausted from one hp or feeling tired that made Papyrus feel more worried, or him trying to act lazy. He guesses it was all three.

He knew he should stop Sans, but he didn’t want to take away the only comfort Sans found after he locked that basement door to never open it again. Not when Papyrus knew the best what feeling useless felt like. Not with the way Sans looked like he could… fall down any minute.

Papyrus didn’t want to go through _that_ again…

 

_(Sans didn't woke up for days after… the incident._

_Papyrus didn't know the reason and he did his best to look after his older brother but... he just... wasn't waking up._

**_~~Please... I can't lose you too.~~ _ **

_He looked around the lab to find some sort of evidence about what happened but the broken machine was the only thing he got. Expect for that goddamn machine the lab looked clean like nothing happened._

_Few more days had passed when he realized he made a big mistake._

_20 hp_

_Sans's max hp... It was **dropping**._

_19 hp_

_How could he have been so **stupid**?!_

_18 hp_

_How could he not realize this?_

_17 hp_

_How could he have been so dumb to not do a check-up on Sans?!_

_16 hp_

_Sans was going to dust... he was going to dust... and it was all his **fault**. _

_~~Nononononononononono!!~~ _

_~~Ican'tloseyoutooIcan'tloseyoutoonotyounotyoupleaseplaseplaeasedon’tdieonmepleasepleasepleasedon’tletmekillyoutoo!~~ _

_15 hp_

_Papyrus picked Sans up and ran back to the lab._

_14 hp_

_The elevator ride was one of the most torturing moments in his life._

_He set Sans down on the bed and checked him._

_10 hp_

_He frantically looks around._

_9 hp_

_What was he going to do?!_

_8 hp_

_He wasn't a scientist, he wasn't even a doctor, he was just an engineer! And the only doctors he knew were gone._

_7 hp_

_What was he going to do? Sans is going dust._

_6 hp_

_He's going to dust... And it's all his fault._

_5 hp_

_Then Papyrus remembered the thing his father was talking about._

_4 hp_

_He said it would be too dangerous to test it on monsters, but…_

_3 hp_

_Papyrus fills the syringe fast with 0.01 ml of the substance his father said was dangerous and shouldn't be used on monsters…_

_2 hp_

_But... but he didn't have a choice! Even if it's a little chance…_

**_~~Please don't leave me alone... I need you please!~~ _ **

_Papyrus summons Sans's soul._

_1 hp_

_He injects his soul with the substance and closes his eyes with pain and waits for the last sound to shatter himself... He would allow himself to give up when he hears that sound._

_..._

_But it never came._

_Papyrus slowly opens his eyes to realize Sans was alive._

_He feels tears gather at his socket and he hugs Sans again as he sheds tears of relief._

_It was okay... Everything would be okay from now on... no matter what happens.)_

After going through the optional routes and discovering a new moving block he continues on his climb.

His climb included those moving blocks, clouds, green bubbles and locked doors with the wind which made everything harder.

Pink clouds disappeared under him almost making him fall down, when he landed on rocks if they didn’t have green spikes on them they would fall apart when he lands on top of them, locked doors keys would always be somewhere that made him dance with death as wind tried to push him to the spikes.

And oh, that wind… that… _goddamn_ wind!

This wind must be the distant relative of that goddamn steam vents in hotland!

This mountain is really rude! Not only does it remind him of his dark edgy past but it also makes it inconvenient to climb a mountain with a dress!

Wind starts to blow violently again like an answer.

The wind was blowing left and right trying to keep him out of balance or make him miss the jumps he planned.

But it doesn’t matter. He keeps going.

He finally reaches a path after that hard climb.

He keeps walking and the wind blows again with the strongest force he felt through his climb in golden ridge, making it harder to walk forward like the mountain itself was against him but he keeps going anyway.

He doesn't know why he's still trying but for some reason he can't give in. He needs to keep going.

He barely manages to walk the path and harder challenges were up ahead with him barely being able to move.

But it still doesn’t matter, he’ll keep on going no matter what.

He goes moves forward through holding on to moving blocks, opening the locked doors again and avoiding the big _snowballs_... he’s not even going to question these anymore.

It doesn’t matter he’s barely able to move through the wind,

It doesn’t matter rocks fall apart where he jumps,

It doesn’t matter reflection of Sans is haunting him,

He’s going to see the end of this and this wish keeps him going through hardships.

He uses green bubbles and avoids green spikes as he literally flies using the wind and he finally jumps and clutches at the ends of the cliff, but like everything else it falls but Papyrus jumps and again lands on the other side.

When he realizes he finally arrived at the gondola and the wind has stopped, he takes a deep breath in relief.

He gets on it and pulls the lever. The engine starts moving with slow moves.

He wonders if Alex started to move forward as he looks down. He really did climb quite up.

As the engine goes up with slow moves, it suddenly stops with a violent shaking.

What was that?! He looks around in panic and tries to find balance from the shaking of the gondola.

… Looks like he’s stalled out. He pulls the lever again to get the engine working but no matter how many times he pulls the lever it doesn’t work.

This… is bad.

Maybe he could use bones and-

Suddenly everything blurs and darkens. What’s going on? Even though he’s so high up there wasn’t enough air, he distantly realizes he’s started rattling as the darkness starts to pull him like… like-

 

 

_(When their father active the machine it was silent for a moment._

_Then everything went into slow motion as pure terror hold over Papyrus's soul._

_At first it was like an explosion everything got knocked over and their coworkers fell back._

_Then it started **pull**... like a black hole they once read about._

_The machine started suck everything in to the tables to the bookshelves that was bigger than the machines itself and... Their coworkers... even their own father._

_Papyrus used blue magic against himself to stand still as he watched his father fell into his own creation in horror._

_Papyrus watches the machine suck everything he had and loved in silence, he couldn't do anything._

_Then he saw it._

_He saw the machine starting to pull his unconscious brother... **To take him away too**._

_And without even realizing Papyrus starts to run._

_He runs to the last thing he loves that wasn't taken by that machine._

_Papyrus realizes in horror that he wasn't going to make it... But it didn't matter, Papyrus catches Sans's by his wrist before it was too late._

_But the **pressure**... _

_At this rate he was going to be sucked in too..._

_Maybe it would be the best thing._

_They could... dust or disappear together with everything they've lost..._

_He knows they didn't saw the stars or the sun or the rain but... They had a happy life._

_He was happy when he cooked for his father and brother, he was happy when he was studying with Sans, he was happy when they read him bedtime stories, and... He was happy when they created this machine that took everything away from him._

_The machine pulls him inside like a black hole and for a moment there was nothing, he felt nothing, saw nothing, heard nothing... And he was **scared**. _

_It would be easy... giving up..._

_But he didn't._

_He felt Sans grip back for a moment and he realized he didn't want this to be over._

_He didn't want to give up._

_So he grips Sans's wrist tighter and turns himself blue and flings them out of the machine._

_When he's out he pulls out blasters and bones... and..._

_He destroys the machine._

_Everything was silent and there was a buzzing in his head._

_He glanced down at Sans to check him. He had lost some hp but he was okay._

_Papyrus sighed in relief and looked around him._

_The machine really did pulled everything in like a black hole... There was nothing left. All of their research, and their coworkers... and... And..._

_They were all gone._

_Papyrus made sure of that._

_He... caused this..._

**_He killed them._ **

_Papyrus pulled Sans close to him and shed tears for his father and for everything they had lost.)_

Papyrus feels like he’s going to choke. He couldn’t breathe, it was so dark and he couldn’t even do anything.

He feels the gondola shake violently again but he can’t do anything to save himself. He starts rattling more violently as he tries to take deep breaths and calm himself down.

But without even managing to stand where he fell on his knees, gondola hit something and stopped abruptly.

Papyrus flings himself out of it and took deep breaths in relief.

After calming down, he slowly gets up and looks at the gondola. Nothing seemed wrong with it to cause the engine to suddenly stop midway.

Papyrus thinks about the reflections he saw… But he can’t stop for resting and thinking clearly for now.

He had a mirror temple to pass through.


	6. In the Mirror

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightmare fuel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really recommend listening to Celeste's OST = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjG0ivBT4lQ&list=PL1eFjFaZ9VkyDcVnvJyEC3P8tCFpZpRoU&index=12&t=0s

Papyrus slowly walks through the narrow corridors, his footsteps echoing through the place as he realizes the walls were shattered mirrors.

When he finally reaches the end of the corridor he meets a statue of a… octopus? With an exasperated sigh he reminds himself not to question these sort of things.

Papyrus expected to meet with a magical place like old site or even golden ridge and that hotel but the place was… empty, hollow like it was abandoned and all of the things left behind was ancient carvings and mirrors on the walls and platforms that activated when he dashed and red bubbles that moved through one direction and lightened the blue torches on the walls.

After flinging himself towards another room from a watery glassy thing and bouncing on clouds these things didn’t leave a feeling of excitement anymore.

Papyrus decides to look through the place like the others and collect strawberries that was strewn all over the temple like all of the other places he’s been. Every room was like a puzzle to collect strawberries with him having to time the red bubble and collecting keys or pressing green buttons to open doors.

The last door he opened led him to a new dark room with him having to light the blue torches.

He sees a dark figure move with him when he crosses a mirror… he decides to ignore it.

This temple was like a maze that Papyrus forgot where he came from or knew how to get out, he gets a vague idea that maybe this place was like Mr. Oshiro’s hotel before he cleaned it. And it wasn’t helping that this temple left a really bad feeling inside him like he was missing something important… or a feeling of being watched.

Papyrus shook his head at the ridiculous thought. The place looked dusty and abandoned with statues of octopus and… vines? He wonders where they came from… maybe it was just moss growing on walls after this place being abandoned for so long.

After a red bubble brings him to a room that only go upwards he realizes his only path going back was blocked… weird, is this the first time this has happened or did he realized it happening just now?

He needs to pull himself together…

He goes upwards to meet a two statue of those weird octopuses pointing to a floating red bubble. He uses the bubble since he had no choice who started to float upward.

The red bubble brought him to a small room with only one big mirror with a red cover thrown on it. He presses the switches that was on either side of the mirror, lightening two green torches.

And after taking a deep breath he pulls the red cover off of the mirror.

Papyrus met with a shattered mirror and looked at himself… for some reason he started to feel dizzy as his _real_ reflection disappeared and the mirror was now purple and it seemed to pull him in…

Papyrus couldn’t do anything as he started floating with purple bubbles now disappearing into the darkness. 

 

* * *

 

He’s floating through… through what? He was floating even though there wasn’t any water.

He hazily looked around as he felt something come closer.

He realized it was one of those weird octopus statues but now it was alive and not a simple harmless statue for decoration.

It couldn’t go through a weird transparent barrier, but it could break down a red… wall? Block? To move forward.

And when it did, the creature’s first target was Papyrus who was so dazzled to react to what’s going on and allowed the creature to launch towards him.

 

* * *

 

Papyrus woke up.

From the moment he opened his eyes he knew that _right now_ he was in the real mirror temple. His surroundings have changed to dark pink from blue, and he wasn’t in a small room anymore, he was somewhere up.

He jumps down.

There was green moss covering the walls and the ground, and the ancient letters on the walls were glowing with dark pink and there was red _tentacles_ growing out of the wall and squirming as he realized he was somewhere else entirely different from the place he had been just minutes ago.

He sees Sans disappearing into a corridor. Papyrus follows him.

“Sans!” He calls out. “What did you do?!” Sans stops _floating_ mid-air and gives him an amused look.

“You think _I’m_ doing this?” Sans laughs. “Pal, this is exactly what I warned you about.”

Sans floats back a bit, Papyrus follows him. He’s not gonna let him run away this time.

“What’s your point?”

“You still don’t get it?” He doesn’t like the condescending look Sans is giving him. “The mountain gave me this body but I’m not the only thing that’s living inside your head.” He thinks about the Undyne he saw. No, she couldn’t be what this reflection is talking about since Undyne was the reflection itself before it turned into Sans. “From no matter where I look, all of this is your fault and you can’t say I didn’t warn you. Look into the mirror, all of this is yours. This temple only magnifies the _mountain’s_ power. You’re in control here, not me.”

Sans floats back again, Papyrus follows him thoughtfully.

“I don’t… believe you.” Papyrus says. “If you really tried to warn me, you would’ve _explained_ what was going on and what this mountain is doing rather than chasing me around and scaring me.”

“Like you would have listened?” Sans said with a tint of annoyance as he floated away again at the end of the corridor. “You always ignore me and go through your day like nothing is wrong. This was bound to happen.”

Papyrus follows him with a confused look. “What?”

Sans looked really angry. “Do you know why I’m not helping you? It’s because you _deserve_ this! Do you think you can continue living like this? No! But you still do it anyway.”

“You did kind of needed to be hit with a clue bat.” Sans took a deep breath. “Do you still think you can climb this mountain?” Without waiting for his answer Sans floated out of the room to god knows where.

…

Fine then! The great Papyrus would find a way out of here himself!

At first everything was okay, the mirror temple was similar to the way it was when he first came in, just… redder? And then the statues of octopuses came to life and tried to attack him, and Papyrus wasn’t able to do any damage to them. Must be because they weren’t alive or… maybe they were just in Papyrus’s head?

The thought makes him shudder as he uses one of the red bubbles to go up again.

And like anything else he experienced in this mountain with going up, everything went to hell.

First he felt something walk behind him.

_What was that?_

The place became darker… until he couldn’t see anything else, but he kept walking slowly as he wasn’t sure where he was going anymore.

Then he started to hear footsteps… he couldn’t pinpoint where it was coming from, but it had enough sound to make Papyrus stop to look around even though he couldn’t see anything.

And then he heard someone laugh… no, it was several people laughing… what were they laughing at? ( _ ~~At him.)~~_ What was so funny?... He can’t comprehend what's going on.

He stopped moving.

Laughter’s echoed around him as he felt eyes towards him. How though? He can’t see anything.

No… this wasn’t people laughing at him. The darkness was laughing at him, watching him, whispering in incomprehendible language. This darkness was worse than the one he was scared of years ago.

He’s rattling violently as the air wasn’t enough anymore even though he didn’t need to breathe. He couldn’t lose his composure…

If this is all in his head… Why was it this spiteful towards him?

_~~“It’s because you **deserve** this!”~~ _

He would prefer that black-hole rather than deal with this, darkness was watching him, going around him, it was even planning to attack him, maybe.

He couldn’t take all of this laughter echoing around him… he slowly sinks down and curls in on himself.

_~~“Do you think you can continue living like this?”~~ _

He tried to make other monsters and his friends happy…  He always tried to keep a smile on his face through pain and suffering like all the monsters.

He tried to believe in others because he knew everyone had a kindness in them somewhere.

This darkness… however... made Papyrus feel like he was going insane.

_~~“You always ignore **me** and go through your day like nothing is wrong. This was bound to happen.”~~ _

He heard a solid footstep right in front of him and all of the laughter’s disappeared into silence.

Papyrus was rattling violently now. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t move an inch.

The figure in front of him slowly crouched down and touched his shoulder. Papyrus curled in on himself tighter.

“My son…” the familiar voice said.

Papyrus stops rattling and slowly looks up.

“Nyehehe…” His voice didn’t sound like it belong to him. “This is it… I finally lost it.”

“No, my son. It really is me.” His _father_ said.

Papyrus thought about it for a moment.

Of course this mountain would be able to bring _him_ here. The mountain was able to see Papyrus’s biggest regret Flowey couldn’t.

“But… how…” Papyrus was sure the mountain couldn’t be able to bring back the dead. This… must be an illusion.

His father looked uncertain. “I’ll… explain later. Now, we should get out of here.” He offered his hand.

Papyrus accepted the offered hand to get up without even thinking. Papyrus had thought it would be a lot different if he ever met with his father again… with things like screams and accusations. But what really happened was his father pulling him in for a tight hug.

“I really missed you.” His father said with a sad sigh.

This was too good to be an illusion... but it wasn’t. This wasn’t an illusion. The warmth that hugged him right now, the voice that talked to him right now… was just like he remembered. It was sticky and a bit goopy… but it was _real_.

Papyrus had forgotten how much he missed him when he hugged back.

And everything seemed alright for a moment. Like he wasn’t in a nightmare filled with his biggest fears.

He would be alright.

When he had finally calmed down Papyrus looked around to realize that it wasn’t dark at all… He was still in the same place he had been with red walls and octopus statues and tentacles…

So he moved on with his father to get out of mirror temple, trying to collect the strawberries that somehow made their way into the mirror, and dodge the octopuses that still tried to attack them.

“Oh my…” His father said when came across two of them. “All of these octopuses look _itentacle_.”

“Dad! We’re trying to run away from them.” Papyrus complained while he collected the keys to open the door.

“You looked troubled my son, I just wanted to cheer you up.” His father said with a sly grin. “Or would you like me to give you _ten tickles_ to laugh?”

“Dad!” Papyrus protested while starting to laugh.

This way they managed to get through most of the rooms scattered with octopuses, doors with locks and the walls that broke when these octopuses crashed on them along with transparent barriers they couldn’t go across Papyrus saw earlier.

“Why are you collecting all these strawberries?” His father said with a confused tone.

“Hmm… I don’t know either.” Papyrus answered as they tried to go across a particularly long room. “… Maybe I’ll make strawberry octopie.”

“You always liked making deserts.” His father answered with a smile.

When they finally got past the room a long corridor was waiting them. They slowly started to walk as Papyrus realized he was once again feeling like he was being watched.

This time it wasn’t darkness, the walls… They were watching him… Trying to stop him from leaving with silent echoes coming through the walls making his steps heavy. He makes his way to the end of the corridor which was shining with the light boring in from the outside.

When he is finally out of the mirror temple he finally takes a deep breath with relief not caring that familiar comfort of the darkness he knows isn’t watching him takes over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is a food for thought: that darkness belongs to Papyrus, not mirror temple.  
> What it represents is up to interpretation.


	7. Reflection

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really recommend listening to Celeste's OST = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__oZ-LYZ8pU&list=PL1eFjFaZ9VkyDcVnvJyEC3P8tCFpZpRoU&index=14&t=0s

Papyrus wakes up. He’s waking up too much than he would normally.

But he’s gotta say that he saw one weird dream…

He looks ahead to see his father standing right in front of a fire. It was night time already.

Oh, wait… all of this was real.

Now that he looked at his father carefully he realized he looked… melted? “You’re awake, my son?”

“No dad, I’m just sleep talking.” Papyrus answered out of habit.

“I see that you still haven’t lost that sarcasm.” His father said with a fond sigh.

The warmth of the fire Papyrus assumed his father lit calmed him down. “… What happened?”

“You passed out under such stressful situation.” Papyrus shuddered at the memory of that darkness. “Are you okay?”

Expect for the existential crisis? “Yes, I’m okay.”

“You should’ve taken it easy.” Papyrus wasn’t sure him being well-rested would’ve prevented what happened at the mirror temple.

His father gave him a worried look Papyrus was used to. “You look troubled, my son. I must ask what’s really going on here.”

Papyrus sighed. “Back at the old ruins, a part of me escaped from a mirror. A part… I’m not really proud of.” Papyrus admitted as he frowned. “I swear I dreamt it.”

“Do you think this mountain made him real?”

“Yes. He’s been trying to stop me from climbing the mountain and chasing me around.” Papyrus thinks for a moment. “He said he’s doing this for me.”

“Maybe he thinks he’s protecting you in some way?” His father offers.

“That can be it… But I want him to stop fighting me.” Papyrus answered.

A long silence stretched between them as they fell into deep thoughts.

“I wonder how old this temple is?” Papyrus asked in the end.

“It is rather ancient than anything else in this mountain.” His father answered thoughtfully. “You know I remember other monsters living on mountains when we weren’t sealed underground before. That would explain the magic that’s still in here.”

“Really?!” Papyrus said excitedly. “Wowie! This place is really old.”

“Speaking of the mountain…” Papyrus braced himself to what was about to come. “Why did you decide to go on a vacation, my son? You always would say things like you would _never_ go on any vacation.”

Papyrus sighed but this was the only person he could talk honestly and seek help. “I just… wanted a break.”

“A break?”

“A break from all of the people around me.” Papyrus said trying to think about what he’s feeling for the first time in a long time. “And I can’t stop thinking about dumb _crap_ that should be long time ago. I should be over it.”

“… Are they really _dumb crap_ you should be over, my son?” His father said softly, Papyrus held his breath. “Death is something you can’t avoid, Papyrus.” His father continued truthfully, Papyrus had started rattling. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“But _it is_. I’m the one that designed the blueprints of that machine!”

“And I’m the one who decided to do experiments with determination.” His father said with an even voice.

“I destroyed your only way out! I… I gave up on you…” Papyrus feels his throat tighten.

“Really?” His father said now coming and sitting beside him, Papyrus looked at his hands when his father gripped them. “These hands say otherwise…”

Papyrus still remembers the engine blowing up in his hands when he tried to replicate the core of the machine his father made. He had forgotten how his hands looked like before he hid them under a glove… like a lot of things about himself.

“And Papyrus, there is a difference between giving up on someone and living on. I don’t want you two to grieve after me your whole lives or try to save me.”

Papyrus sighed. “How are you here anyway?”

His father smiled. “I couldn’t just stand back and watch my favorite son struggle.”

“You say the same thing about Sans.” Papyrus replied with a weak laugh.

“Well you both are my favorite sons.”

“Dad, we’re your only sons…”

“Oh right… you don’t know about the others.” His father said with a grin.

He used to fool Papyrus with this lie, making him cry and Papyrus would get really angry when his father said it was just a joke.

“Oh no! My father has fallen into a dark prison of passion! What will I do?!” He yelled dramatically as his father laughed.

“Well… You can say ‘like father like son’.”

“What?”

“Don’t think I didn’t saw those tentacles in that temple, my boy.”

“Dad! Those weren’t mine!” Papyrus protests with a scandalized look.

They laughed for a moment in peaceful silence.

“You should go back to sleep, my son.” His father said in the end.

“… Will you be gone when I wake up?”

His father gave him a sorrowful look. “I shattered across time and space Papyrus. I’m barely holding myself together… Kinda like you.”

At that Papyrus gave a troubled sigh and his father held his shoulder.

“My son… You shouldn’t be ashamed of feeling sad or lonely.” His father said seriously. “You shouldn’t be afraid to speak your mind, even though they may be hurtful… do what you think is right. It’s okay Papyrus… It’s okay if you’re feeling bad, of course you will. You’re not some programed machine whose only purpose is to do what people tells them to do. Of course you will make mistakes and fail, this is just the way of life.”

Papyrus feels something in him rip inside and he feels magic gathering around his sockets. The tears he was trying to push back… Now they were floating down in silence as he felt like his father freed him from something when he comforted and gave him a hug.

He felt light like a feather.

He distantly realizes he’s going to reach the summit tomorrow, he was ready to leave all of this behind him and move on.

Papyrus fell asleep with a feeling of content he hasn’t felt for a long time.

 

* * *

 

When Papyrus opened his eyes, he understood that he was in a dream again.

But that was okay.

He slowly got up and looked around to notice a feather. He uses it without much thought and literally _flies_.

He flies upwards to the sky along a blocks made out of blue glass, the scene was really _dream_ -like.

He flies through the beautiful night sky he finally understands why Sans likes it so much, and blue glass blocks and reaches so up to the sky that he could clearly see the northern lights.

As he was floating through the sky he sees Sans joining him.

“The northern light are beautiful.” He tells him.

“Yeah, they are.” Sans answers. He was calmer now.

“We need to talk.” Papyrus starts.

Sans raises a brow. “… Okay?”

“I finally understand who you really are.” Papyrus says simply. “You’re not my real reflection.”

Sans tilts his head to the side. “I’m not?”

“You’re everything I need to move on from. You’re very spiteful and paranoid.”

Papyrus should’ve noticed from the beginning when the reflection said he wasn’t capable of climbing this mountain… treating him like a child.

Sans frowns. “What?”

Yes… This reflection was his fear of the person Sans is going to be like to him.

“Yes, I understand now. I need to leave you behind and move on.”

 “You’re just… abandoning me?”

“I’m setting you free. We’ll be so much happier.”

“You’re so… so…” Papyrus looked at Sans with worry. “ _So stupid_!”

Sans smiles sharply with a manic look and suddenly Papyrus was being held by _vines_?!

“You think you can just _leave me behind_?” More vines raised from down. “You think you can blame everything on me?” the vines now blocked the southern lights. “You think you’re above me?” Now Papyrus was surrounded with vines. “ _Answer me_!” Sans started to float around him.

“Calm down…”

“ _Calm down?!_ ”

It’s okay… he needs to stay calm and convince Sans that this is for the best.

“ _You think you can make me listen to you_?! _You’re not above me! And you can’t climb this mountain! It’s time you accept that!_ ”

The vine that was holding him threw him down with a spiteful force.

He wakes up to the ground crumbling under him as he falls at the bottom of the mountain.

 

* * *

 

His fall seems to take forever as his back hits pink spikes and he keeps falling through the greenery scenes and waterfalls as he falls at the bottom of the mountain.

Finally his back hits water and he stops falling.

He looks around the water, his vision was blurry… He can’t believe what just happened.

…

He should… Go back up.

When he get out of the pond he has fallen in, he discovers a block with an angry face which helps him go up. He seems to still be able to use the feather in his dream as he saw one of them. He uses it to fly through the pink spikes that seemed to be everywhere. The bottom of the mountain looked pretty lively with its greenery of the grasses and plants.

All of his climb back seems to go with a haze as he finally realizes he’s in a cavern with a rock formation that shows his reflection.

…

He was so close… It’s all over now…

He knows he can climb back all the way but what’s the point? That reflection won’t let him climb the mountain…

Why is he keep tormenting him? He… he _hates_ him!

…

But he is a part of Papyrus. He’ll never be able to get rid of him. And… he was right… Papyrus couldn’t climb the mountain just like he said…

Papyrus moves on.

He continues to climb back up with feathers that he uses to fly between spikes and angry blocks that helps him get to a certain point and platforms he can jump on… They were kind of like the clouds on the golden ridge.

He comes across the old lady who was standing in front of an elevator.

The old lady laughed. “Let me guess, you fell?”

Papyrus looked at her with surprise. “How did you know?”

She ignored his question. “Are you calling it quits?”

“No matter how hard I try, he keeps interfering, and whenever I try to talk to him he gets angry.”

“What did you say to make him angry?”

“I…”

…

Papyrus feels like smacking himself in the head. Would he really abandon Sans if he became someone he doesn’t like? No! He would keep believing in him and try to keep talk to him!

Then what was the difference with this reflection?

“It’s a shame you fell…” The old lady continued. “I was thinking you could’ve really reached the summit.”

“What makes you think that?”

“I’ve never met someone who was so desperate to prove himself.” Papyrus flinched at the words. “It’s like you’re trying to prove yourself that you can do something.”

… That… was true…

…

“But there is no shame in going back home, you’ll come back when you’re ready.

He didn’t want to give up. He wants to see the end of this. He wants to…-

“I need to talk to that reflection.” Papyrus said. “But… how can I find him?”

“He’s a part of you right? If you look for him, he won’t take long to find.”

“Thank you.” Papyrus said and started to walks past the lady rather than going up.

“Celeste Mountain is a place for healing, and the first step of healing is confronting the problem. It’s never easy… good luck.” The old lady said after him.

Papyrus keeps walking and soon enough he sees the familiar vines in his dream. He follows them with determination, going deeper through the caverns.

Papyrus wasn’t being like himself… this mountain really did a number on him. but that doesn’t mean he’s going to turn away from confronting the reflection or run away. He’ll listen to him, he won’t try to throw him away again. Papyrus finally realized the reflection was just… scared. But scared of what?

When he reaches the end of a tunnel he realizes Sans was sitting on the grass.

“Looking for me?” Sans says grumpily. “I thought you were so keen on _moving on_.”

“I… made a mistake.” Papyrus said with shame. “I’m sorry.”

“Heh… You think you found all the answers. You think I’m some kind of leech in your mind.”

“Look, I’m really sorry. We need to move past this fighting.”

Sans started floating again. “You expect me to talk to you? To trust you?”

“I know you’re scared.” Papyrus said calmly. “We’ve already hit rock bottom. There is no need for us to keep fighting.”

“I can keep chasing you down.” Sans said with a hollow laugh.

“But what would be the point of that? Let’s climb out of here… _together_.” Papyrus offered with a smile.

“Take one more step forward and I’ll tear you apart!”

Papyrus took one more step. Everything went to hell.

Sans flied away with such force that rocks dropped from the caverns ceiling, he summoned bones and started attacking but Papyrus pays them no mind and dodges them as he gets closer to Sans.

Sans runs away from him again, but Papyrus chases him through the caverns as he dodges falling rocks and bones, and the blasters Sans started to use. Papyrus realized the blasters eyes were _orange_. This is the second time he wants to smack himself in the head. _Now_ , everything made perfect sense.

He avoids pink spikes and uses feathers to catch Sans with a new purpose. Ironically he seemed to be chasing Sans deeper down through the caverns, this wasn’t about reaching the summit anymore.

“I tried to help you!” Sans yells. Papyrus knew that… how could have been so blind? He gets closer, Sans runs away.

“You aren’t capable of doing this!” It’s okay… If San-the reflection believes himself, he can find the courage to do this with him.

“None of this would have happened if you had listened to me!” Rocks fallen down violently and he dodged bones trying to reach him.

Papyrus knew those words were true. He’s sorry… he’s sorry that he ignored him, sorry that he pushed him away for all these years but it’s okay… He would try to fix this, it wasn’t too late.

He’s not going to give up on him. If he gives up on him then what would be left of Papyrus? He needed him.

Papyrus dodges all of the obstacles he throws at him, and finally everything calms down as he disappears to another cavern.

Papyrus slowly gets closer to the reflection who was now sitting down on the grass with defeat.

The reflection sighed. “Fine. You win… I guess, you don’t need me after all. If you want me to go… I’ll try.”

“No.” Papyrus said quietly. “This isn’t what I want. I’m sorry I pushed you away, I just… didn’t know what to do in those days.” Papyrus gets closer, now he was standing beside him. “Of course I need you. I always needed you.”

Papyrus crouches down beside him. How could he have been so blind not to notice?

“It’s okay if you’re scared… didn’t you hear what our father said?” the reflection flickered his eye lights away. “But I know we can do this because I believe in you…” It was right there in front of him… his battle body, the orange scarf he has worn like a cape he no longer wears since they come to the surface. He slowly hugs his _real_ reflection. “Because I believe in myself.”

A soothing air fills the place as everything in the caverns seem to have calmed down along with his reflection. The reflection hugs him back and then they become one.

Without worrying about the disappearance of the reflection he climbs his way up easily through the high places without difficulty. There was a feeling of peacefulness in him like he was whole again. When he reaches somewhere too far up the reflection helps him and he’s back to the place he talked with the old lady.

The reflection materializes in front of him and he looks at him with excitement. “Wowie! That was awesome, we can reach the summit like this so easily!”

“… You still want to climb the mountain?” His reflection asked with a timid voice. “Why would be go back up there?”

They saw the old lady approach them slowly.

She smiled. “It’s nice to see that you finally saw him for real.” So… she _did_ knew.

“Hey, cool dude!” Papyrus turned back and saw Alex. “I was worried since the old lady said you fell down but you seem fine.”

“Thanks for worrying for me Alex but maybe that fall was what I needed.” Papyrus said thoughtfully.

Alex looked at the reflection. “Oh hey! Another cool dude! Are you two gonna climb back together?”

“I think we can finish the climb if we work together.” Papyrus answered with excitement.

“Wait… I didn’t agree to this.” His reflection said. “You said we would talk first.”

“You’re right.” Papyrus agreed. “But this is something we want to do. I think we should at least try one last time.”

“I don’t know… the mountain tore us apart.”

“Don’t worry, I believe we can do this.” Papyrus encouraged… himself. The weirdness of the situation was dawning on him.

“It’s not a bad idea.” The old lady said. “It still is going to be difficult. But it was impressive that you manage to come that far with all the fighting, I think you two will make it with cooperation.”

His reflection looked Papyrus uncertainly for a moment before answering. “Okay… I’ll try.”

“Can I help?” Alex offered.

Papyrus smiled at her. “It’s okay Alex.”

“You can at least let me hold your bag.”

“Okay…” Papyrus accepted, finally feeling the weight of the bag. “It won’t take long.”

Papyrus took of his bag and took a step forward as he took a deep breath he didn’t need with determination along with his reflection.

He could do this.


	8. No More Running

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really recommend listening to the Celeste's OST = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDVM9KED46Q&list=PL1eFjFaZ9VkyDcVnvJyEC3P8tCFpZpRoU&index=19&t=0s

When Papyrus started to climb through the shortcuts, he understood that when he became one with his reflection, he could somehow jump higher… or dash twice. With the help of his reflection he jumps and goes through the blue spikes. And he just noticed he had forgotten to collect strawberries. Oh no!

After collecting two more strawberries he takes shortcuts by jumping and quickly reaches the end. His reflection helps him jump upwards.

“We’re making a great team.” Papyrus said enthusiastically to… himself.

“If you say so…”

“This mountain doesn’t stand a chance to our greatness!”

“Stop jinxing it.” His reflection answered nervously.

 

**500 M**

He reached the abandoned city with ease and had to remind himself how these engines with traffic lights worked and met with his favorite puzzle pieces… spikes and ice!

Since he was taking shortcuts he had to do more climbing and dance with death more than necessary.

He makes sure to collect strawberries as he climbs the falling ices and his reflection helps him through the hard parts and when he reached the end his reflection helps him fling himself upwards again.

“So how are you?” Papyrus asked.

“I’m doing fine… just waiting for something to go wrong.”

“Don’t worry myself! Even if we fail we can always try to fix it together!”

“… You know what’s the scariest part? I’m starting to believe you.”

 

**1000 M**

He reaches the old site to meet with the glassy watery things he saw in his dream… huh, maybe it wasn’t a dream after all.

He quickly realized that the old site was harder to past through the shortcuts with more spikes and challenges with strawberries!

And with the help of his reflection he once again flings upwards.

“Hey…” Papyrus asks. “Why did you used Undyne to talk with me?”

“I… I thought you wouldn’t listen to me, like you always did all these years.” Papyrus pushes back the urge to apologize again. “So I thought maybe you would listen to them… But it did the opposite effect.”

“… I thought you treated me like I was-“

“I know… I feel the same, really.” Papyrus couldn’t judge the reflection when he made the same mistake himself. “Like who would pat a grown adult on the head and give him _candies_?!”

Papyrus huffed in annoyance, he knew the bunny had good intentions but the look she gave him like she was underestimating him still hurt him in a way. “I know right!”

 

**1500 M**

They passed through the hotel with greeting Mr. Oshiro and inviting him to the old lady’s house when Papyrus was done climbing to the summit. He said he would think about it with a smile.

When they passed through the corridor with the shattered mirror his reflection moved restlessly.

“Hey…” He said nervously. “Uh… I’m sorry…” He said gesturing to the shattered mirror. “I thought, I could make you give up with saying things like that… but it wasn’t right. So I’m sorry.”

Papyrus smiled. “Thanks. That means a lot to me.”

 

**2000 M**

He was back on beautiful golden ridge with its cheery blossoms and green bubbles… oh no… he had forgotten.

Nyohoho… it’s the wind! The relative of that pesky vents in hotland won’t leave him alone!

He struggles through the wind which seemed to violently blow as he jumped on the clouds and jump through blue spikes and used moving blocks to reach his destination.

When he finally reaches the end, once again with the help of his reflection he flings upwards.

“What are you gonna do what all these strawberries?” his reflection asked.

“Hmm… You’ll see.” Papyrus answered.

“Hey… We’re going to the mirror temple.” His reflection said. “Are you okay?”

“Nyehe…he… of course, I am!” He said but after his reflection raised a brow, Papyrus only sighed. “I am bit nervous about the things inside it.”

“… It’s okay. We’ll… do this together.”

Papyrus looked at him with excitement. “Look at you!”

His reflection blushed with embarrassment. “I told you to stop jinxing it…”

 

**2500 M**

He cautiously walked through the mirror temple. Since he was taking a short cut, he was on some different side from the entrance.

He quickly moves through the temple using the moving block and red bubbles while avoiding spikes. It seems like he wasn’t going to come across the octopuses again or that darkness.

And since he was taking shortcuts he had quickly reached the end with his reflection flinging him upwards again.

“This is it, the home stretch. Wowie! We’re going to make it.”

“Yeah…” His reflection answered timidly.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m just…” he sighed. “I’m sorry. I was holding you back. I need to trust you more.”

“It’s not your fault. I was trying to leave you behind my whole life. I wish I tried to understand you rather than pushing you away. I guess… I just wanted to get through what I’ve been through with smiling and hiding away my emotions.”

“We wasted so much time and energy… At least we’re finally understanding each other.”

“Yes… I’m glad the mountain brought you out. We can move past this together. If we can climb this mountain, we can face anything.”

“What if we don’t make it?”

Papyrus smiled. “I’d be okay with that.”

His reflection looked surprised. “You… would?”

“Of course, I’m just glad we’re doing this together.” Papyrus understood that the thing he wanted to do was face himself in a way when he came here to challenge himself with climbing this mountain. “I really needed to do this.”

“I’m finally understanding why.” His reflection smiled. “Let’s finish it.”

 

**3000 M**

He climbs up through the dark pink rocks and with the help of his reflection.

Weird… Papyrus expected to see snow rather than rain when he was reaching the top of the mountain. Well whatever! It wasn’t the first weird thing he saw in this goddamn mountain anyway!

Of course he soon enough learned that this rain seemed to have the same effect as blue magic as he feels gravity pulling him down when he jumps through the spikes and tries to climb upwards. This gravity pulling him downwards was nothing after facing that violent wind!

After his reflection helps him go up he realizes that this rain was indeed like blue magic when the weight of his gravity lightened and he was jumping easier to avoid the spikes and bouncing on the clouds again and when he was closer to the end he was met with the feather again.

And when he reached the number one flag he realized he had finally reached the summit, when he slowly reaches the red flag, Papyrus thinks he should be jumping around with joy but his mind was filled with solid calmness.

“We actually did it.” His reflection said with the same calmness he’s feeling.

“It’s beautiful.” Papyrus said as he gazed at the breathtaking scene before his eyes. “Look at how far we’ve come.”

“I’m glad I got to see this before I…”

“Oh right… You won’t be able to talk to me when we leave the mountain.”

“Yeah, it’s going to be hard losing this body…”

“But you’re a part of me, you’ll still exist.” Papyrus said.

“Yes but I’ll have to depend on you to listen to me. I just… can’t go back to the way we were.”

“Don’t worry, I can’t go back to that either. We’ll work together from now on.” It was okay, Papyrus would express himself without fearing what the others would think from now on. He would talk to Sans, he would tell Undyne that he can teach her to cook something decent if she wasn’t up to ruining her kitchen to de-stress, he would tell that bunny that he was an adult and didn’t need to be treated like a kid... maybe he would even be able look at his hands again after so many years and start to play the violin again.

“I believe you.” His reflection answered honestly.

They were silent for a while.

“So…” His reflection said in the end. “Now what?”

Papyrus smiled as he sat down. “Let’s just… enjoy this for a moment.”

It was okay… Papyrus wasn’t afraid of not distracting his thoughts with puzzles or chores anymore. He was finally peaceful in his own mind.

The sun was shining through the clouds.

Papyrus was filled with hope.


	9. My Dearest Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I recommend listening to the piano collection of Celeste's, I found fitting for this last chapter. = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UimP4E1_d94&list=PLczA8pMWxlsF1D00-GoHXtcmSJE9CxWEl&index=12

Like everything in life going down was easier than going up. Papyrus said goodbye to everything in this mountain as he climbed down with a feeling of peacefulness he hasn’t felt for a long time.

After climbing down with his reflection, they have finally reached the old lady’s house and Papyrus realized that the bridge that had collapse at the start of his journey was fixed.

When he comes inside the old lady’s house he was met with friendly faces of the old lady and Alex who waited for him.

“Welcome back.” The old lady greeted him.

“Papyrus! Did you make it to the summit?” Alex asked with excitement.

“Yeah, we did!” Papyrus answered enthusiastically. “It was incredible!”

The old lady looked at them with a nostalgic look. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

“I didn’t think it would be worth it after going through all of… _that_. But it was.” His reflection said with a smile.

“Man… I wonder how it looks like… Theo didn’t make it to the summit and Madeline hadn’t taken any pictures at the time.” Alex said.

“Don’t worry Alex! The great Papyrus has not forgotten about taking the pictures of his adventure!” Papyrus said proudly.

“Ohh! Send them! And may my phone be blessed with the cool dude’s number?”

“Yes, it may, Alex.” Papyrus answered with a smile.

 

* * *

 

Mr. Oshiro came in the old lady’s house with a bird on his shoulder. “Good evening, everyone.”

“Hey, it’s that bird, I’ve chased away!” His reflection yelled.

“Me! That is very rude!” Papyrus scolded.

“But that bird was stalking you!” His reflection tried to justify himself.

“Even then, you shouldn’t have chased the bird away!”

“…” His reflection crossed his arm with embarrassment. “I’m sorry.”

“Come Oshiro.” The old lady said, ignoring the banter between Papyrus and his reflection. “Papyrus here is baking us a pie with all of the strawberries he’s been collecting.”

Mr. Oshiro took a seat beside the old lady. “Oh, I wonder how this one will taste like.”

“I’m pretty sure it will be delicious as his spaghetti” Alex answered with optimism.

“Well I haven’t baked for a long time, so I don’t know it’ll be as tasty as you people think…” Papyrus said as he pulled out the pie from the oven. “But I tried my best.” He said as he placed the pie on the table.

Papyrus took a bite after making sure everyone was eating. Hmm… It wasn’t bad, he hadn’t gotten rusty at baking after all.

“Just like how you used to bake…” His reflection said with a smile. Papyrus sighed in relief at that.

 “Heh! A lot of young folks are giving my baking a run for its money these days!” the old lady said.

“Holy heck! This is awesome!” Alex said after she finished her first plate and cut herself another piece.

“That’s right. This is really impressive.” Mr. Oshiro said.

“Hey cool dude!” Alex said as she took out her phone. “Say pie!”

Papyrus smiled as Alex took a selfie of this moment he never wanted to forget.

 

**_~The End~_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is one of my first long fanfiction that I finished. I can only hope that people enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. :)
> 
> -BlueDaisy


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